so they would soon again become more odious to the several Subdivisions of Dissenters than Episcopacy it self And this being a thing so easily foreseen we are not now urged with the necessity of setting up either of these The great expedient that has been proposed of late is to indulge a Liberty of choosing what Church and what way of Worship any man pleases that is to grant a publick Toleration of divers Religions But this though it might gratifie the present humor of some part of the Nation and serve some mens Occasions better than any Establishment would be quickly disliked by most of those that now contend so Zealously for it For there must needs be a constant Emulation and Strugling betwixt the several Tolerated Parties which would give a continual Disturbance and as soon as any of them began to grow Numerous and Powerful and had any Hopes of succeeding they would presently imagine it very necessary to impose their own Discipline upon all the rest and this probably might soon put an end to the so much desired and magnified way of Toleration Or if we could suppose them contented to allow the same Freedom to others which they injoyed themselves yet it could not possibly be avoided but that this Indulgence must strangely multiply our Divisions while some Members of their Separate Churches would take Offence and withdraw and make choice of a new Pastor and incorporate themselves into another new Church and that after a while upon the like Pretences might be split into another and another and so on without any stop And then this would certainly set open the Gate to a Flood of Heresies and such monstrous and extravagant Opinions as must be confessed by the most prejudiced Dissenter to be of far more dangerous consequence to the cause of Religion than that sober and pious Liturgy and those few indifferent Rites which are now injoined This the experience of the Late Times found to be true The Church of England was no sooner overthrown but some of those that had been the most forward and busie to pull her down when they saw how suddenly the swarms of other Sectaries increased upon them were forced to acknowledge that the Constitution which they had destroyed was a great check and restraint to those Errors which grew Bold and Licencious under the Liberty they had procured The Bishops then who just before had been the common Theme of Popular Obloquy had some good Words unwillingly dropt upon them and their Diligence and Success in suppressing Absurd Heretical and many times Blasphemous Doctrines was allowed some just Commendation That Government which they had traduced and rendered as odious as was possible by all the arts of Defamation that could be used was found upon Trial to be far more desirable by some of its greatest Enemies than that Anarchy and Confusion they had contended for with so much Violence But if we cannot be made sufficiently Apprehensive of the dismal Effects that will almost Naturally follow upon a Publick Toleration yet methinks we should now be a little Suspitious of it since we know it is the main Engine the Papists have been working with these many years If there be no Remedy but that our Church must fall let us not throw it down our selves by methods of their Prescribing let us not act as if we were prosecuting the Designs of the Conclave and proceed just as if we were governed by the Decrees of the pretended Infallible Chair We may be ashamed to look so like Tools in the hands of the Jesuits when we suffer our selves to be guided by those measures which they had taken and talk and do as they would have us as if we were immediately inspired from Rome For we cannot be ignorant that Toleration has been a Device of theirs and it would not be any part of our Wisdom to grow unreasonably fond of the Invention of our Enemies and think to strengthen the Protestant Interest by those very means which their Subtilty and Malice had contrived to destroy it But if this Consideration should be laid aside What need can there be otherwise that we should desire to be Indulged in our departure from a Church when we may Communicate with a safe Conscience As we may certainly do in ours whose greatest Adversaries have not been able after the most curious Search they could make to find out one thing in the whole Constitution which they could positively affirm to be Forbidden and till that can be made appear we must still say that it cannot be Unlawful If the Imposition of some Indifferent things be thought a sufficient ground for a Separation as it is now generally urged since the proof of their Unlawfulness is despaired of then we must have Separated from the Apostolical Churches who had some such Usages as the Holy Kiss and others whose Indifferency is acknowledged by their being wholly disused We must have Separated from the first Churches that succeeded them which had all some Indifferent things injoined We must Separate at this time from all the Reformed Churches in the World for there is none of these which does not require the use of such things as we should judge cause enough to depart from them Nay when we have once Separated from the Church of England upon this account we must then Separate from one another and every man must be a Church by himself for it is impossible that any Society whether meerly Humane or Christian should subsist without the orderly determination of some Indifferent things And sure we can never hope to maintain our Separation upon such a Principle as would not only part us from all the Churches that are or ever were and tear Christendom into ten thousand pieces but scarce leaves us so much as the Notion of a Church and makes Christian Communion absolutely impracticable Let us not give those of Rome the pleasure of seeing that Church which has always opposed them with the greatest Vigor and been the constant mark of their Envy quite Ruined or extreamly Weakned by a pernicious Mistake that would Divide and Divide us again and again and never make any end of Dividing Let us shew at least that we are well inclined unto Peace by coming as far as we can and if there should be any thing that we may possibly suspect to be Unlawful let not this hinder us from joining in those other holy Offices in which we have not any pretence of a Doubt Let not our groundless Scrupling at a Ceremony or two fright us from the whole Worship of God against which we have not any Exceptions And for those that esteem our Communion in all particulars utterly Unlawful which I suppose are but very few and I know they have but very slight Arguments for the severe Judgment they pass upon us if they will meet let them do it in the most private manner that they can without any vain Ostentation of their Numbers which cannot be any Satisfaction to their Consciences but may make their Adherents over forward and bold and tend to the creating of Jealousies in the Government And while they are upon these terms they cannot reasonably expect any Connivance They might sooner hope for it from his Majesties wonted and often experienced Clemency when they shall make it appear that their Dissent is modest and humble and such as has no other but a Religious Design in it Than when they assume a high degree of Confidence and think to extort Indulgencies by Clamors and Discontents and resolve to Assemble openly in Opposition to a Royal Command as if it were a piece of Christian Fortitude to outbrave Authority These are but ill Methods of courting the Favour of a Prince But I hope for the future we shall all upon all Occasions behave our selves as becomes good Subjects and sober Christians and make no Disturbances neither on a Civil nor Ecclesiastical account Let it Pity us at last to see the Ghastly Wounds that are still renewed by the continuance of our Divisions Let us have some Compassion on a Bleeding Church that is ready to Faint and in eminent Danger of being made a prey to her Enemies by the unnatural Heats and Animosities of those that should Support and Defend her Why should we leave her thus Desolate and Forlorn when her present Exigencies require our most Cordial Assistance If the condition of her Communion were such as God's Laws did not allow we might forsake her that had forsaken him But since this cannot be Objected against her since she exacts no Forbidden thing of us Let us strengthen her Hands by our unanimous Agreement and since we do not Condemn her Doctrine let us not Despise her Worship since the Substantials of Religion are the same let not the Circumstances of external Order and Discipline be any longer an Occasion of Difference amongst us And so shall we bring Glory to God a happy Peace to a Divided Church a considerable Security to the Protestant Religion and probably Defeat the subtle Practices of Rome which now stands gaping after All and hopes by our Distractions to repair the losses she has suffered by the Reformation May the Wisdom of Heaven make all Wicked Purposes unsuccessful and the blessed Spirit of Love heal all our Breaches and prosper the Charitable Endeavours of those that follow after PEACE Amen FINIS John 17. 20 21. Eph. 4. 3 4 5 6. Phil. 2. 1 2. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Rom. 14. 19. Acts 4. 32. Ch. 2. 42. Exod. 25. 40. Heb. 3. 5 6. Luk. 22. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. Heb. 13. 17. See 2 Sam. 17. 1 Chron. 17. 2 Chron. 6. 8. John 10. 22. 1 Cor. 14. 40. Heb. 13. 17. Rom. 4. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 12. 10. 23. Matth. 6. 9 c. Luke 11. 2. Ezek. 33. 32. Common Prayer in the Catech. Ibid. in Publick Baptism Josh 22. 26. Acts 15. 29. Rubr. after the Communion See Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 8. See Rubr. before the Communion 1 Cor. 11. 21. Ver. 28. 2 Tim. 4 3. Joh. 11. 52.
A PERSWASIVE TO COMMUNION With the Church of England Ephes 4. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by J. Redmayne Jun. for Fincham Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate-street 1682 3. A Perswasive to COMMUNION With the CHURCH of ENGLAND THere is nothing that does more scandalize and unsettle the Weak nor tempt the Proud and Licentious to a professed neglect of all Religion than the many causless Divisions which do sometimes happen in the Church And he is no lively Member of that Mystical Body of Christ that is not sensibly affected with the Fatal Consequences of these things and does not endeavour what he Lawfully may to do something towards the healing of those Wounds which have been made by the extreme Scrupulosity of some and are still kept Bleeding by the Subtilty and cunning Artifice of others For it is manifest enough and cannot now be denied that the Papists have always attempted to pull down the Church of England by pretended Protestant hands and have made use of the facility of our Dissenting Brethren to bring about their own Designs I wish the eminent Danger we have been brought into would prevail with them at last to forbear to Batter and Undermine us as they have done when they cannot but see that the Common Enemy is waiting all Opportunities and stands ready to enter at those Breaches which they are making They might condemn the rashness of their own Counsels and lament it it may be when it would be too late if they should see Popery erected upon the ruines of that Church which they themselves had overthrown We know how restless and industrious the Râ—mish Faction has always been and the only visible Security we have against the prevailing of it lies in the 〈◊〉 Vnion of the whole Protestant Profession and there is nothing wherein there is the least probability that we can ever be all Vnited unless it be the Church oâ— England as it stands by Law established agreeaâ—le to the Rules of the holy Gospel consonâ—nt to tâ—e Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christians and not only Allowed but highly Honoured by all the Reformed Churches in the World Here is a Point fixâ—â— in which we all may Center whereas they that diâ—â—â—â— from us are not yet and it may be never will be perfectly agreed upon their own New Models of Discipline and Government neither can they find one Precept or Example in Scripture or Antiquity for the Constituting any Church without an Episcopal Power presiding oveâ— it And if any Party amongst them could have thâ—â— Form of Church Government confirmed by Law which they esteem the most Apostolical it is manifest from reason and experience that it would be presently Opposed by all the rest with no less Violence than our is and instead of putting an end to our Divisions would most certainly increase them Therefore though they have all still imposed their several Forms with the greatest Rigor wherever they have had the Power or but the Hopes of it in their hands yet that all Sorts of Dissenters may be drawn into the Confederacy for the present we hear now of nothing so much as the Mischief of Impositions and the Natural Right and great Advantages of Toleration Which is the very thing which the Romish Emissaries have always aimed at and seems to be one of the subtilest parts of the Popish Plot As might be made out by divers undeniable Arguments and appears sufficiently from many of the Letters Trials and Narratives that have been lately published And it can be no wonder that they should give their Cordial Assistance to such a Design which if it should ever pass into an Act would reward their Diligence with a cheap and easie Victory For they may plainly foresee that it would be so far from Vniting us that it would undoubtedly break us in pieces by â—â—â—aw Now if Vnion be always necessary upon the common Obligations of Christianity it will be much more so in the present Conjuncture considering the strength and incouragements that may be given to the Pâ—piâ—â— Cause by the continuance of our Dissensions And if there be far greater hopes that we may at length by the blessing of God be sooner Vnited in the way of â—he Church of England than in any other then it must â—eeds be the greatest Service that can be done to the Protestant Interest if we could all be perswaded to join â—eartily in the Communion of that Church that has hiâ—herto been and still is so great a Defence against the â—rrors and Superstitions of Rome It would be an unpardonable Vanity to imagine that â—â—ese short Papers should be able to effect what so many â—earned and Solid Treatises have not yet done But I â—â—dress this little Essay only to those that have not time â—â— peruse a larger Volume I have been incouraged to â—â—is Undertaking by the Numbers of those here in London that have seemed formerly to dissent from us who have lately joined with us not only in Prayer but in the holy Communion of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ And I hope that many more may be invited and disposed by their good Example to receive the same Satisfaction that they have found These that are already come in will not stand in need of any farther Perswasion but only that they would continue Constant in that Communion they have now embraced For if they should leave us again and return to their Separate Assemblies they would seem by this to condemn themselves For if it were Lawful for them to Communicate with us once it must be Lawful for them to do so still and they will not refuse to submit to Authority in all things that may Lawfully be done I cannot therefore see how they can avoid being self-condemned if they should forsake our Communion for iâ— they judge it Unlawful they sinned Wilfully when they entered into it if they think it Lawful they would then Sin in withdrawing from it since it is injoined by that Power which they confess they are bound to obey in Lawful things If they should say that they once thought it Unlawful after that they judged it to be Lawful and now conceive it Unlawful again Thâ— strange unsteadiness in Opinion would look a great deaâ— more like Humour than Judgment And it might occasion vehement Suspicions in some not otherwise very Censorious that this Uncertainty proceeds not from Conscience but Design and that all their Compliancâ— was only to serve a present turn to decline an Ecclesiastical Censure to keep a beneficial Place or to bâ— qualified for an Office in some great Corporation Thâ—â— men might be apt enough to suspect but I am willing to believe any thing rather than that they that havâ— always made shew of so great a Tenderness should bâ— guilty of so much Hypocrisie and Prophaness together as to dare even to approach to the Lord's Table under great dissatisfaction of mind it may be meerly to advance some Secular
end But I hope their Behaviour for the future will sufficiently clear them from such an imputation I shall therefore apply my self only to those that do still forbear our Communion and offer something very briefly which I conceive may be useful for the satisfying their most known and ordinary Doubts that as we do all profess the same Faith we may all agree in the same way of Discipline and Worship and all become peaceable and orderly Members of the same Church And for the obtaining this most Excellent end First I shall desire them impartially to consider of some things that may incline them to be Peaceably minded and tend to the removing of the general Prejudices they have unhappily conceived against the Church of England Then I shall endeavour to give what satisfaction I can to the chief Objections against us which they are wont to urge in Defence of the present Separation And lastly I shall exhort them to a brotherly Vnion upon such Motives and Arguments as the Gospel suggests and make for the Credit and Safety of the Pretestant Religion The things that I would commend to their serious Consideration which may serve to dispose them to Peace and to remove the Prejudices they have taken up are such as these In the first place they should be very careful that it be not any sinister end or corrupt Passion that did either engage them in the Separation at the beginning or provokes them now to continue in it I do not mention this because I know any one of our Dissenting Brethren to be guilty of it but because it must be confessed that mens minds are too often influenced by their carnal Interests and Affections These will be always mixing themselves in all their Consultations these do commonly blind and pervert their Judgments and lead them into ten thousand Errours These are the occasion that Fancy sometimes passes for Conscience that Melancholy Fumes are admired for Divine Inspirations and that the overflowing of our Gall is looked upon as pure Zeal These and the like are very dangerous and usual Mistakes that do frequently proceed from the prevalency of our Passions If therefore we do divide from a Church it will most highly concern us to be very Cautious that we be not acted by any such Principle For if we hope to Gain and grow Rich by our Departure if we are Ashamed or Scorn to retract the Opinions we have once Professed if we imagine we have more Light than the first Reformers when indeed we are very Ignorant if we cannot endure to be Opposed in any thing if we Murmur and Repine at our Governours when they require our Obedience where we are unwilling to pay it these are signs that our Affections are turbulent and unruly and while we are thus disposed we can never be assured but that Covetousness Pride and Impatience might be the greatest Motives that induced us to make a Separation and the strongest Arguments that we have to maintain it But I cannot charge our Dissenting Brethren with these things I believe that many of them may be Upright and Sincere in their Intentions But because they are all in the same estate of Degeneracy and Corruption which others are I would intreat them to be very careful that they be never led away by these or the like temptations but that they would always labour to preserve those holy Dispositions of Integrity Meekness Humility and Condescension which are the best Preparatives to the receiving of the Truth in the Love of it After they have thus freed their minds from all irregular Passions and Designs it would conduce exceedingly to the PEACE of the Church if they would be sure to express their greatest Care and Concern in the more Weighty and Substantial things of Religion This would prevent many of the Quarrels that do often arise in matters but of small Importance If real Holiness and Piety be the thing that we aim at then when we may be secured of this we should not be so very forward to enter upon fierce and endless Disputes about the external Modes and Circumstances of Worship If I may serve God there in Spirit and in Truth why should a Gown or a Cloak or a Surplice fright me from the Church when either of these is injoined by my Superiours If I may be instructed in the way of Salvation and eternal Happiness why should I forsake the Publick Assemblies because I am not allowed to join my self to what Congregation I please and had not an immediate hand in the choice of my Pastor When our hearts are bent upon the great things of Religion we shall see but little Reason to be Contentious about matters of lesser Consequence a few indifferent Rites will scarce be able to tempt us to break off Communion with that Church with which we are at perfect Agreement in all Fundamental and Necessary points The next thing that may tend to the promoting our Vnion is the Consideration of the heinous Nature and Guilt of Schism which is nothing else but the Separating our selves from a True Church without any just Occasion given The want of due apprehensions of the Sinfulness of this seems to be the main Cause of our present Divisions Men are not generally sufficiently sensible how much they do Oppose that Spirit of Peace and brotherly Love which should diffuse it self through the whole Body of Christian People when they suppose every slender Pretence enough to justifie their departing from us and setting up a Church against a Church They think it a matter almost Indifferent and that they are left to their own Choice to join with what Society of Christians they please themselves Which giddy Principle if it should prevail would certainly throw us into an absolute Confusion and introduce all the Errours and Mischiefs that can be imagined But our blessed Lord founded but One Universal Church and when he was ready to be Crucified for us and Prayed not for the Apostles alone but for them also that should believe in him through their word one of the last Petitions which he then put up amongst divers others to the same purpose was That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me This it is plain was to be a visible Vnity that might be taken notice of in the World and so become an inducement to move men to the embracing of the Christian Faith Therefore as we would avoid the hardening of men in Atheism and Infidelity and making the Prayer of our dying Saviour as much as in us lies wholly ineffectual we should be exceeding Cautious that we do not wilfully Divide his holy Catholick Church We are often warned of this and how many Arguments does St. Paul heap together to perswade us to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace One Body and one Spirit even
cannot prove that Christ has actually done this because we imagine that he should have done it It would be better argued if we should say The Gospel has not expressly determined these things as the Law did therefore they are left to the prudent determination of those that have the Rule over us to whom we are Commanded to be Obedient and submit our selves that the Episcopal Power may be equivalent to the Sacerdotal and the Service of God as regularly Administred in the Church as it was in the Temple Besides it was not a sin even under the Law to ordain and observe some things relating to the Worship of God that were not written And these could not be esteemed additions to the Word if they were not imposed as Divine Precepts but as Prudent Constitutions appointed only for the more Orderly management of the external Offices of Religion But that any thing should be Unlawful meerly because it is not Commanded is a Doctrine I think that was never heard of among Jews or Christians till very lately God had Commanded the setting up of a Tabernacle and most punctually described how it should be made We have been told that there was not to be one Pin about it for which there was not some special Direction And God never spake a word concerning building of an House yet this notwithstanding David without any Command had it in his thoughts to build one and Nathan in his private judgment approved of the design and God himself though he suspended the execution of it for some time commended him for it and rewarded his pious Intentions with a promise of building him another kind of House by confirming the settlement of the Crown in his Family Which is proof enough that every thing then that was not Commanded was not therefore Sinful The antient Church of the Jews were so fully satisfied in this that they made no Scruple of ordering divers things for which they could not find a Command The Feast of the Dedication is a known and pregnant instance it was of modern and humane Institution and yet our Saviour vouchsafed to be present at it Some things they a little altered and added others at the Passeover as their eating of it not Standing but Sitting or Lying at the Table and their Singing a Paschal Hymm after it which with some other like Usages were observed by our blessed Lord and his Disciples and it can be no less than Blasphemy then to conceive that there could be any thing that was Sinful in them The whole matter may be concluded thus If it were not Sinful under the Law where the external Form of Divine Worship was particularly specified to admit of certain Usages that were not Commanded then much less is it Sinful to do so now under the Gospel where the external Form is not so specified where we have little more than such general Rules as these to be respectively applied by Superiors and Inferiors Let all things be done Decently and in Order Obey them that have the Rule over you Where no Law is there is no transgression I have been something the longer in considering this Argument because the whole debate must issue here which way soever this be decided the Controversie is at an end If our Church require any thing of us that is Unlawful we are bound to Separate from her if she do not we are strictly ingaged to Communicate with her They therefore that Divide should first shew that she injoyns something Unlawful But that never was and I verily believe never can be made appear For we are told in the Person of St. Paul that All things are Lawful which must of necessity be understood of things that are not Forbidden And then since it cannot be charged upon our Church that she Commands any thing that is Forbidden it must be granted that she Commands nothing but what the Apostle has declared to be Lawful 〈…〉 then can be pretended why we should rend and 〈◊〉 her very Bowels Why should we run so headily â—nto opposite Parties and Factions Why should we 〈◊〉 the Protestant Cause upon a number of little disuniâ—â—â—â—â—â—ependent Interests that are as much at Difference one with another as they all are with us What should make us so timorous in this when we are so daring in some other cases Why should we be afraid to joyn in Communion with a Reformed Church whose Doctrine is Orthodox whose Rites are Innocent whose Government is Apostolical A man would wonder truly what could be pleaded in defence of a Separation when none of these can be justly accused And yet there are certain Objections brought against us which those that withdraw would fain perswade us to think sufficient to justifie their Departure To some of the chief of these I shall now endeavour to give what satisfaction I can Our Dissenting Brethren therefore are wont to plead That there is a Liturgy or Set Form of Publick Worship prescribed That there are certain Ceremonies injoined That the use of these Controverted things gives great Scandal to the weak That they cannot Safely join in our mixt Communion That they leave our Assemblies for the sake of greater Edification which they can find elsewhere And for these Reasons they think they are necessitated to depart from ours and set up Churches to themselves according to the best Models that every one is able to draw This is certainly a very dangerous adventure and can never be justified by such Arguments as are produced which might be all easily answered upon the general Principle I have already mentioned That none of the things against which the exceptions are made are Unlawful and therefore they cannot make our Communion Unlawful and if that be not Unlawful it must be Unlawful to divide from it This might be Reply enough to the most if not all the Objections that are or can be brought But because it may be thought more satisfactory by some I shall give a particular though very short Answer to those I have now proposed The First and Great thing that is objected against our Church is prescribing a Liturgy or Set Form of Prayers to be constantly used in Publick Worship This is that which has raised a great many Clamours Peoples minds have been extremely incensed and exasperated against it it has been cryed out upon as Idolatrous Popish Superstitious and I know not how many hard Names it has been called But I am glad to find the temper of our Dissenting Brethren altered so much for the better We do not now so often hear those bitter exclamations of Rome and Babylon Baal and Dagon The Common Prayer is not esteemed such an abominable thing as some ignorant and heady Zealots were wont to count it Among those that have but too openly favoured the Separation the more considerable part both for Number and Sobriety do not only allow that a Form is Lawful but will freely acknowledge that ours â—s so and